The Real Camera Behind Cloverfield

For those who’ve seen the unique monster movie Cloverfield, you know that the story is supposed to have been shot by the aptly-named character “Hud” with a cheapo handheld consumer camera. You know, something you could grab at Best Buy next weekend, use once and forget about forever. Convincing the audience of that point was one of the movie’s most successful angles, since much of the film (yes, a few other cameras were used, too) was really shot on Sony’s flagship, absolute top of the line CineAlta HD camera, the F23.

-Engadget.com

Apple posts $1.58B profit

Well, the holidays were pretty happy down Cupertino way this year — Apple just posted its Q108 financials and they’re impressive. Spurred by sales of 2.3 million iPhones, 22 million iPods, and 2.3 million Macs, Steve and the boys raked in $9.6 billion in total revenue, which translates to $1.58 billion in pure, glorious profit. That represents Apple’s latest best quarter ever, with a 35 percent jump in revenue year-over-year — a $2.5 billion increase from last December. The $1.76 profit per share also beat consensus analyst estimates of $1.63 a share, and, as Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster pointed out in his notes, Mac sales have increased 43 percent since last year.

-from Engadget.com

Actor Heath Ledger dies at 28

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday of a possible drug overdose in a Lower Manhattan apartment, the New York Police Department said.

The Academy Award nominated actor was 28.

Ledger was found naked and unresponsive, facedown on the floor at the foot of his bed by a housekeeper trying to wake him for an appointment with a masseuse, said police spokesman Paul Browne.

“Pills were found in the vicinity of the bed,” he told CNN.

“This is being looked at as a possible overdose, but that is not confirmed yet.”

Browne later told reporters some prescription medications were found in the room, including sleeping pills.

But he stressed police have made no determination of the cause of Ledger’s death — that would be done by the medical examiner.

He said the pills were not “scattered about.”

No note was found and there was no indication of foul play, Browne said. Ledger was found at about 3 p.m., and was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency personnel about 3:30 p.m.

-CNN.com